A significant portion of the population has difficulty in transferring into and out of a bed or chair. Such difficulties can be attributed to muscular trauma or illness, recuperation from debilitating disease, or age-related degeneration of muscles and body movement. Indeed, one factor currently taken into account in evaluating the health-care situation for an individual includes an assessment of the person's ability to rise independently from a bed. Consequently, a device to provide unassisted use of a bed could result in a higher degree of independence in the care situation required for a disabled or elderly person.
Recent studies have shown that older patients are more likely to rotate and laterally flex their trunks to alter pivot-related motions when rising from supine to seated positions. Moreover, large numbers of such patients are more likely than comparably studied younger groups to broaden their support base by contacting their elbow to the horizontal surface during middle trunk elevation in rising from a supine to a sitting position. Similarly, older adults are more likely to utilize their hands or a flexed leg to assist in pulling themselves into a sitting position.
The device of the present invention attaches to a bed frame to provide stable, manual assistance for a user getting into or out of a bed. The device enables the user to achieve stable equilibrium for independent movement. This device also functions to broaden the support base of the patient so as to provide a substitute for the use of an elbow or bent leg to assist in the rising motion.
The device has spaced, horizontal hand grips in the form of a ladder and an elevated, ergonomically designed, curved handle attached to a frame-mounted base component. The hand grips provide optimal leverage to the user during rising movement and the curved handle enables the user to steady him/herself as he/she stands out of bed.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a simple, user-friendly support device to enable a user to more easily rise from or get into a bed.
A further object of the invention is to provide a bed-rise support which has spaced, horizontal hand grips and an angled handle to provide optimum leverage for the user to utilize back, shoulder, and arm muscle groups in self-assisted movement while getting into or out of bed.
A further object of the invention is to provide a relatively inexpensive support device which enables the user to be independent of the help of others for getting into and out of a bed or chair.